Following Prime Minister Trudeau’s massive cabinet re-shuffle, Quebec Liberal MP Marc Miller has replaced the Honorable Sean Fraser as the new Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship. Fraser, who had held the position since 2021, has instead been appointed as the Minister of Housing, Infrastructure, and Communities.
During his tenure as the Minister of Immigration, Fraser faced the significant challenge of maintaining an operational immigration system amid closed borders due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He successfully granted temporary residence to thousands of individuals during that time, and addressed a substantial backlog of over 2.5 million applications caused by the pandemic-induced reduction in processing capacity.
His leadership oversaw the introduction of occupation-specific draws to the Express Entry system, beginning successfully at the end of June. Moreover, his Immigration Levels Plan aimed to increase the number of newcomers to Canada, addressing issues related to labor shortages and an ageing population.
Fraser also played a key role – from an immigration viewpoint – in Canada’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He implemented measures to facilitate the movement of tens of thousands of vulnerable individuals out of the conflict-zone, and recently added a pathway to permanent residence to his package of measures. His commendable ability to deal with these hurdles have underscored his IRCC run as an overall success.
Miller was sworn in as Minister of Immigration on Wednesday, marking his official inception in the immigration office. He attended College Jean-de-Brebeuf at the same time as Trudeau, where the two became friends. He would later go on to earn bachelor’s and master’s degrees in political science from the University of Montreal, and his civil and common law degrees from McGill University.
Before entering politics, Miller practiced as a lawyer in Montreal, Stockholm, and New York City. He specialized in mergers and acquisitions, with specific focus on international and commercial law. Prior to that, he served as an infantry soldier in the Canadian Armed Forces.
He made headlines in 2017, when he delivered a House of Commons statement entirely in Kanien’kéha (Mohawk). This had been the first time that the language had been spoken in either the Senate or the House since Confederation. He took the position of Minister of Indigenous Services in 2019, and started overseeing Crown-Indigenous Relations in 2021. This came after his work as parliamentary secretary under former Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, Carolyn Bennett.
Miller has been an active advocate for increased federal investment in affordable housing, public transit, and the Canada Child Benefit, and has also been a part of several charitable and pro bono legal work.
